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by ****** » Wed Oct 27, 2010 11:33 am

This week the Review Group is covering Incognito: Bad Influences #1 and we want YOU to post a review!

Are as excited for this week's Incognito: Bad Influences #1 as every other pulp comic aficionado on the planet? Do you want to write a review for it and discuss the book in depth with other members of the Outhouse community? Yes, yes of course you do.

See that Comment Box a little ways down the page? Post already! Or you can go to The News Stand forum and follow the thread there. Post your own review and by this time next week you can see your review along side your fellow reviewers on the front page of The Outhouse just like everyone who reviewed last week's pick, KICK ASS 2 #1.

Incognito: Bad Influences #1

WRITER: Ed BrubakerPENCILS: Sean Phillips

LAST YEAR'S BREAKOUT HIT FINALLY RETURNS! By the award-winning team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. One of the biggest Hollywood options of the year, nominated for THREE Eisner Awards, INCOGNITO is finally back for more! It's apocalyptic pulp noir at its finest! It's been over a year since Zack Overkill came out of Witness Protection to build a new life. But working for the government isn't that different from being controlled by them, and his new secret identity is becoming more trouble than it's worth. So what will Zack do when tasked with a mission that sends him on a hunt into darkest corners of the super-criminal underworld where he was raised? Also returning with Incognito are the exclusive Pulp magazine essays by Jess Nevins, Professor of pulp history, only available in the single issues of Incognito. MATURE CONTENT/ NO ADS $3.50

******

This week the Review Group is covering Incognito: Bad Influences #1 and we want YOU to post a review!

Are as excited for this week's Incognito: Bad Influences #1 as every other pulp comic aficionado on the planet? Do you want to write a review for it and discuss the book in depth with other members of the Outhouse community? Yes, yes of course you do.

See that Comment Box a little ways down the page? Post already! Or you can go to The News Stand forum and follow the thread there. Post your own review and by this time next week you can see your review along side your fellow reviewers on the front page of The Outhouse just like everyone who reviewed last week's pick, KICK ASS 2 #1.

Incognito: Bad Influences #1

WRITER: Ed BrubakerPENCILS: Sean Phillips

LAST YEAR'S BREAKOUT HIT FINALLY RETURNS! By the award-winning team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. One of the biggest Hollywood options of the year, nominated for THREE Eisner Awards, INCOGNITO is finally back for more! It's apocalyptic pulp noir at its finest! It's been over a year since Zack Overkill came out of Witness Protection to build a new life. But working for the government isn't that different from being controlled by them, and his new secret identity is becoming more trouble than it's worth. So what will Zack do when tasked with a mission that sends him on a hunt into darkest corners of the super-criminal underworld where he was raised? Also returning with Incognito are the exclusive Pulp magazine essays by Jess Nevins, Professor of pulp history, only available in the single issues of Incognito. MATURE CONTENT/ NO ADS $3.50

Outhouse Editor

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Good-bye.."

OMCTO

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips cover familiar territory in INCOGNITO: BAD INFLUENCES #1. A super-powered mole, Simon Slaughter, has turned native and become a top-ranking member of Level Nine, a fanatical terrorist group that he was supposed to infiltrate and undermine. Several agents have been sent to make contact with Slaughter and bring him back to the good guys. But all of these agents have failed to return. Authorities decide that Zack Overkill, the conflicted antihero from the first INCOGNITO miniseries, should be sent to meet Slaughter. Zack is still regarded by many as a criminal figure, and therefore may have better chance of contacting Level Nine than legitimate heroes. Zack’s hardly thrilled by the order and senses that this may be a suicide mission.

The setup in this opening issue is fast and efficient. This is a bullshit-free book, with no unnecessary double-page spreads. Brubaker and Philips open up with a bang and blend exposition and action with incredible competence. There isn’t a boring panel in the book. But there sure are a lot of familiar ones. Indeed, this story has clear similarities with SLEEPER -- Brubaker and Phillips’ outstanding series about a super-powered mole with mixed loyalties. But Bru is not only recycling his own ideas here, but he is also borrowing generously from Joseph Conrad. BAD INFLUENCES is essentially a retelling of HEART OF DARKNESS, where Zack is the Marlow figure and Simon Slaughter is the lunatic Mr. Kurtz. As well, this book finds much inspiration from pulpy 1930s adventure stories that the first INCOGNITO series drew upon. Almost every character, for example, has a cheesy alliterative name, like Simon Slaughter or Zoe Zeppelin.

So, is this a problem? Is the book too derivative for its own good? To be honest, I’m not sure. It will all depend on how Brubaker develops this story in subsequent issues. Will he twist and turn and rework all these clichés in exciting ways? Or has he incorporated too many clichés here and made it impossible for himself to produce anything of originality? We'll see, I guess.

But despite the many clichés, the pacing of the story is so fast and the art is so sharp that BAD INFLUENCES #1 is definitely worth checking out.

OMCTO

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips cover familiar territory in INCOGNITO: BAD INFLUENCES #1. A super-powered mole, Simon Slaughter, has turned native and become a top-ranking member of Level Nine, a fanatical terrorist group that he was supposed to infiltrate and undermine. Several agents have been sent to make contact with Slaughter and bring him back to the good guys. But all of these agents have failed to return. Authorities decide that Zack Overkill, the conflicted antihero from the first INCOGNITO miniseries, should be sent to meet Slaughter. Zack is still regarded by many as a criminal figure, and therefore may have better chance of contacting Level Nine than legitimate heroes. Zack’s hardly thrilled by the order and senses that this may be a suicide mission.

The setup in this opening issue is fast and efficient. This is a bullshit-free book, with no unnecessary double-page spreads. Brubaker and Philips open up with a bang and blend exposition and action with incredible competence. There isn’t a boring panel in the book. But there sure are a lot of familiar ones. Indeed, this story has clear similarities with SLEEPER -- Brubaker and Phillips’ outstanding series about a super-powered mole with mixed loyalties. But Bru is not only recycling his own ideas here, but he is also borrowing generously from Joseph Conrad. BAD INFLUENCES is essentially a retelling of HEART OF DARKNESS, where Zack is the Marlow figure and Simon Slaughter is the lunatic Mr. Kurtz. As well, this book finds much inspiration from pulpy 1930s adventure stories that the first INCOGNITO series drew upon. Almost every character, for example, has a cheesy alliterative name, like Simon Slaughter or Zoe Zeppelin.

So, is this a problem? Is the book too derivative for its own good? To be honest, I’m not sure. It will all depend on how Brubaker develops this story in subsequent issues. Will he twist and turn and rework all these clichés in exciting ways? Or has he incorporated too many clichés here and made it impossible for himself to produce anything of originality? We'll see, I guess.

But despite the many clichés, the pacing of the story is so fast and the art is so sharp that BAD INFLUENCES #1 is definitely worth checking out.